World's melanoma experts to meet in NZ

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) from the sun is the primary cause of most melanomas. Photo / Thinkstock

Melanoma experts from New Zealand and around the world will meet in Wellington tomorrow to discuss latest research and plans to reduce incidence and impact of the cancer.

New Zealand has one of the world's highest rates of melanoma skin cancer, which kills more than 300 people each year.

It is the most common cancer in men aged 25 to 44 and the second most common cancer in women aged 25 to 44.

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) from the sun is the primary cause of most melanomas and the risk of developing the cancer is strongly related to a history of one or more sunburns in childhood or adolescence.

Speakers at the summit include lesion classification expert David Elder, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and John Hawk, Professor of Dermatology at St Thomas Hospital London.

President of the New Zealand Dermatological Society Amanda Oakley and Dr Mary-Jane Sneyd, medical epidemiologist and senior research fellow at the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago, will also speak at the conference.